Saints in Christ

Paul must think Jesus is pretty important. In the first two verses of Ephesians alone, he mentions Jesus’s name three times. He references himself as an apostle of Christ Jesus, that he’s writing to the saints who are faithful in Christ Jesus, and he blesses them with grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ. While we might be tempted to think that Paul is going overboard in mentioning Jesus so many times in this short intro, Jesus’s transformative nature and power should cause us to reconsider. Jesus isn’t merely a good teacher or an exemplary prophet. He is God in the flesh, the God-man, an idea that Paul emphasizes by tying Jesus to God the Father’s will and grace and peace in those same verses. And since Jesus is God, when we enter into Christ through faith, God makes everything that is true of Jesus to be true of us. This is what it means to be in Christ, a reality that Paul emphasized and that we will unpack throughout the book of Ephesians. In other words, Jesus is a big deal because He takes everyone found in Him and remakes them into a new person (2 Cor 5:17). Our relationship with Him is transformative. Without Jesus we are without hope, but with Jesus we have not only hope and life but also resurrection power that strengthens us to walk in newness of life (Rom 6:4). In other words, we can’t overstate the importance of Jesus or our life in Him. This realization will drive us to seek a strong relationship with Him and see our lives transformed. And in the end, we’ll look more like Jesus than we don’t. May Jesus Christ be praised! – Pastor Rory Martin

Sunday at Liberty

9AM: Pastor Rory–Titus 3:12-15–Serving Saints

10AM: Pastor Rory–Ephesians 1:1-2–Saints in Christ (sermon notes)

6PM: 1st Qtr Members’ Meeting